It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

  • 93% of critics liked it
    (60 reviews)

  • 94% of users liked it
    (186,369 ratings)

This is director Frank Capra's classic bittersweet comedy/drama about George Bailey (James Stewart), the eternally-in-debt guiding force of a bank in the typical American small town of Bedford Falls. As the film opens, it's Christmas Eve, 1946, and George, who has long considered himself a… More

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In Theaters
Dec 25, 1946 Wide
Liberty Films

Critic Reviews

  • Rich Cohen, Salon.com

    It's a Wonderful Life is about hunger. It's about greed. It's about the many ways a good man is stymied. Finally, it's about George Bailey, whose decency prevents him even from killing himself.

  • Manny Farber, The New Republic

    Capra is an old-time movie craftsman, the master of every trick in the bag, and in many ways he is more at home with the medium than any other Hollywood director. But all of his details give the impression of contrived effect.

  • , TIME Magazine

    It's a Wonderful Life is a pretty wonderful movie.

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    The epiphany of movie sentiment and a transcendent experience.

  • Bert Briller, Variety

    The April-air wholesomeness and humanism of this natural bring back vividly the reminder that, essentially, the screen best offers unselfconscious, forthright entertainment.

Read all 22 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

  • Mike S


    Joyous, timeless classic! I can't say I've seen many movies from the 1940's, let alone any Christmas ones, but this was a very pleasant viewing experience, in several senses of the word. James Stewart is fantastic and brings a lot of vigor to his performance, but above… More

  • Carlos M


    Capra finds the most perfect balance between bittersweet and optimistic in this timeless holiday tale, to remind us that life is always worth it, even in the worst of circumstances. A wonderful story that resonates for a very long time after it is over.

  • Adriel Denzel L


    Great. Definitely a film to watch each and every Christmas holiday. Rather wholesome and simple message gets across to anybody and everybody.

  • Bentley L


    George Bailey is a man with many hopes and dreams. However, his sacrifices, economic woes, and the achievements of his brother, Harrry, get in the way. On Christmas Eve, a frustrated Geroge Bailey is visited by a guardian angel named Clarence who gives him a new, and not so pleasant,… More

  • Alice S


    They just don't make 'em like this anymore. Jimmy Stewart: the epitome of weakness and strength, goofy likability and romantic sweeper of feets.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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